diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/codegen/BufferHolder.java b/sql/catalyst/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/codegen/BufferHolder.java
index af61e2011f4001172d528da00c65a0da544d0362..0e4264fe8dfb5155b784194264ac79316d4505e5 100644
--- a/sql/catalyst/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/codegen/BufferHolder.java
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/codegen/BufferHolder.java
@@ -45,7 +45,13 @@ public class BufferHolder {
   }
 
   public BufferHolder(UnsafeRow row, int initialSize) {
-    this.fixedSize = UnsafeRow.calculateBitSetWidthInBytes(row.numFields()) + 8 * row.numFields();
+    int bitsetWidthInBytes = UnsafeRow.calculateBitSetWidthInBytes(row.numFields());
+    if (row.numFields() > (Integer.MAX_VALUE - initialSize - bitsetWidthInBytes) / 8) {
+      throw new UnsupportedOperationException(
+        "Cannot create BufferHolder for input UnsafeRow because there are " +
+          "too many fields (number of fields: " + row.numFields() + ")");
+    }
+    this.fixedSize = bitsetWidthInBytes + 8 * row.numFields();
     this.buffer = new byte[fixedSize + initialSize];
     this.row = row;
     this.row.pointTo(buffer, buffer.length);
@@ -55,10 +61,16 @@ public class BufferHolder {
    * Grows the buffer by at least neededSize and points the row to the buffer.
    */
   public void grow(int neededSize) {
+    if (neededSize > Integer.MAX_VALUE - totalSize()) {
+      throw new UnsupportedOperationException(
+        "Cannot grow BufferHolder by size " + neededSize + " because the size after growing " +
+          "exceeds size limitation " + Integer.MAX_VALUE);
+    }
     final int length = totalSize() + neededSize;
     if (buffer.length < length) {
       // This will not happen frequently, because the buffer is re-used.
-      final byte[] tmp = new byte[length * 2];
+      int newLength = length < Integer.MAX_VALUE / 2 ? length * 2 : Integer.MAX_VALUE;
+      final byte[] tmp = new byte[newLength];
       Platform.copyMemory(
         buffer,
         Platform.BYTE_ARRAY_OFFSET,
diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/codegen/BufferHolderSuite.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/codegen/BufferHolderSuite.scala
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..c7c386b5b838aac4657d5900db73c62238eccfaf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/codegen/BufferHolderSuite.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.expressions.codegen
+
+import org.apache.spark.SparkFunSuite
+import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.expressions.UnsafeRow
+
+class BufferHolderSuite extends SparkFunSuite {
+
+  test("SPARK-16071 Check the size limit to avoid integer overflow") {
+    var e = intercept[UnsupportedOperationException] {
+      new BufferHolder(new UnsafeRow(Int.MaxValue / 8))
+    }
+    assert(e.getMessage.contains("too many fields"))
+
+    val holder = new BufferHolder(new UnsafeRow(1000))
+    holder.reset()
+    holder.grow(1000)
+    e = intercept[UnsupportedOperationException] {
+      holder.grow(Integer.MAX_VALUE)
+    }
+    assert(e.getMessage.contains("exceeds size limitation"))
+  }
+}